The leaders of the European Union three and Iran met to seek a way forward.

None of this was inevitable. Rather, it reflected European leaders failure to stop a pair of vicious spirals.

Iran statement by the Presidency on behalf of European Union leaders meeting at Hampton Court, 27 October 2005

Above all, European leaders must promote increased naval cooperation. After all, naval capacities are essential to the projection of European power and crucial to maintaining geopolitical stability around the world.

In March 2000, at the Lisbon meeting of the European Council, European leaders had committed themselves to a 10 year programme of economic reform designed to make the European Union the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world.

All European leaders quail before it. To exorcise the demon, they are putting their economies through the wringer.

I fear that the latter is true hence the growing resentment against the European Union. To add insult to injury, current European leaders do not own their past decisions.

In June 2012, eurozone leaders announced their intention to establish a European banking union. The euro, they said, had to be buttressed by transferring banking supervision to a European authority.

The problem is that the European Commission and the European Parliament have consistently failed to generate a compelling narrative, leaving ordinary Europeans unconvinced of the EU s value. Making matters worse, national and European leaders have allowed even encouraged citizens to believe that integration is inevitable, lowering the stakes for European elections.

European leaders have put in place mechanisms to support Italy and Spain. As of October, the continent has an operational European Stability Mechanism to purchase new Italian and Spanish government bonds if investors go on strike.

European leaders must therefore substantially increase research funding when the EU budget is next due for revision in 2008 and 2009.

Now all European leaders from Mario Monti in Italy to Mariano Rajoy in Spain and Elio Di Rupo in Belgium agree on the need to revive the European economy. So do Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, and, indeed, Merkel herself.

Political leaders are, of course, to blame for filing away these and other European ideas in the archives. But the blame must also be shared with the entire European political class, civil society institutions, and the media.

European Union leaders meeting at Hampton Court today condemned in the strongest terms the comments in respect of the State of Israel attributed to President Ahmadinejad of Iran.

While 2011 was supposed to be the year when European leaders finally got a grip on events, the eurozone s problems went from bad to worse. What had been a Greek crisis became a southern European crisis and then a pan European crisis.

Mandela embodied the type of leader that Africans had in mind when they struggled for freedom from the European empires. Africans wanted leaders who would reconcile and reunite them leaders who would restore to them the dignity that colonialism had robbed.

The upheaval among Europe s southern and eastern neighbors may well bring about a long overdue revamping of the EU s Neighborhood Policy. And, in pursuit of other avenues for expanding the EU s reach, European leaders might reinvigorate the European Economic Area.

PARIS While Europe s citizens largely support the establishment of a common security and defense policy, most European leaders have demonstrated a clear lack of interest in creating one including at last month s European Council meeting. What accounts for this paradox?

The Commission s progress report will be dealt with by the European Council next month. At that meeting, European leaders should ask themselves the following questions Has the EU given Turkey a fair deal in the case of Cyprus?

Growth and jobs need to be promoted with equal zeal. European Union leaders now recognize this kick starting growth in 2012 was high on the agenda at the European Council s meeting on January 30.

Or public spending all European leaders adamantly want to reduce government spending. But these same leaders, including that supposedly stern mistress of the budget Angela Merkel, were arguing less than two years ago that public spending would provide a Keynesian way out of the crisis.

On Saturday, Oriol Junqueras, one of nine Catalan leaders in pre trial jail since late last year, announced he would run in European Parliament elections next year.

How should the US and European leaders respond? Historically, phases of resurgent radicalism have lasted 5 10 years, marked by greater aggressiveness against internal and external enemies.

Three Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the European Union had travelled to Damascus, Amman, Gaza and Cairo from 9 to 11 November for discussions with regional leaders.

I also note with appreciation the facilitation efforts of my Special Representative, the members of the International Committee for Support to the Transition, the European Union and regional leaders.

BEIJING Despite repeated assurances by European Union leaders, after more than two years, there is still no light at the end of Europe s debt crisis tunnel. Recently, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, referring to a possible Greek exit from the eurozone, told the European Parliament that there is no Plan B.

European leaders must move beyond the increasingly implausible mantra of belt tightening today full bellies tomorrow, and recognize that, at its core, the euro crisis is a political crisis. Rather than focus on quick policy fixes, Europe s leaders need to pursue long term solutions.

Contrary to popular perception, the EU is not ruled by the European Commission in Brussels. National governments still make the most important decisions in the European Council, where leaders wheel and deal to advance their countries interests.

Rediscover that because you're the leaders, the innovation leaders, the thought leaders.

Rediscover that because you're the leaders, the innovation leaders, the thought leaders.

The recent frenzy of high level telephone diplomacy, in which US President Barack Obama pressed European leaders to act to rescue the euro, showed this dynamic to be alive and well. It was an extraordinary demonstration not only of how difficult European leaders found coordinating their response to the crisis to be, but also of the strategic importance of a second reserve currency for the largest reserve currency.

PARIS The European Commission s new president, Jean Claude Juncker, has put public investment back on the agenda with his idea of a three year 300 billion ( 378 billion) capital spending plan. The European Union s leaders are expected to discuss his proposal in December.

If European leaders do plan to meet in 2014 in Sarajevo, they should act now. The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty allows for an element of visionary realism in European politics, as there are no longer any institutional obstacles to the future enlargement of the EU.

In 1919, John Maynard Keynes told the statesmen of post World War I Europe to abandon their vindictive patriotism for the sake of building a future of peace based on European integration. Alas, it took another world war to convince European leaders of the validity of Keynes s approach.

Besides raising doubts about European leaders competence and solidarity, this crisis jeopardizes the EU s signal achievement, the single market, which ensures freedom of movement for goods, services, capital, and people.

27. Leaders welcomed the interest of the European Union and New Caledonia in concluding a fisheries agreement with FFA member countries and requested FFA to continue discussions on the matter with both the European Union and New Caledonia and provide further advice to FFA members.

Emergencies should not be dealt with on an ad hoc basis by 27 finance ministers frantic to reach a solution before the Asian markets open. And European leaders, in their desperation, should not coerce the European Central Bank into helping.

European leaders need to get serious about Europe s cocaine problem. The white lady is seducing a steadily growing number of Europeans, and remaining in a state of denial will only worsen the consequences.

When confronted with a debt crisis in the eurozone, European leaders repeatedly kicked the can down the road. The result was an unnecessarily deep and protracted recession.

Eurobonds plus fiscal rules this formula is the euro s best hope for salvation. Unfortunately, another crisis or two might be necessary before European leaders consider it seriously.

These interconnected visions can and must be realized if Europe is to thrive again. Together, they form a compelling narrative that European leaders must begin to articulate.

This would be a pity for Europe and for Britain. It would underscore the depth of the chasm between leaders who are seeking to advance the cause of European political integration but are out of touch with their electorates, and the British, who do not like European political integration at all.

Stockholm Defending Europe s economy against unfair international trade practices has long been a key element of the European Union s external policies. It is almost an instinct among some politicians and business leaders that if competition is deemed unfair, the European Commission should marshal new trade defenses.

But, resting on the laurels of the EU s founders, successive European leaders largely failed to perceive the competitive challenges posed by globalization. They seemed to forget that the European project s underlying motivation was political, not economic, which led them to rush into enlargement and set unrealistic goals.

46. Membership in the Council of Europe and the goal of joining the European Union has had a positive influence on the Croatian Government and on the attitudes of many opinion leaders in the country.